Soccer

Coleraine to edge a dramatic cup final encounter with Cliftonville

Cliftonville will look to top scorer Joe Gormley to end the club's 39-year wait for the Irish Cup
Cliftonville will look to top scorer Joe Gormley to end the club's 39-year wait for the Irish Cup Cliftonville will look to top scorer Joe Gormley to end the club's 39-year wait for the Irish Cup

Tennent’s Irish Cup final: Cliftonville v Coleraine (today, Windsor Park, 2.30pm)

COLERAINE boss Oran Kearney has mentioned quite a number of times that the bitter experience of losing last season's Irish Cup final to Linfield was worth “30 or 40 appearances” to his players.

Cup final experience does matter.

Only the few get a shot at redemption. The Coleraine players are in that small, lucky minority where they’ve only had to wait 12 months to right the wrongs of that Linfield defeat.

No Coleraine player did themselves justice last May. Kearney knows that his players won’t play as badly this afternoon.

One of the big imponderables is how well they’ve recovered from finishing an agonising second to Crusaders a week ago in a dramatic climax to the title race.

The Crues, in fairness, were always favoured to win the Gibson Cup after they avoided defeat against the Bannsiders in their vital league clash in early April.

The Crues did stumble a few times after that and gave Coleraine hope – but that’s ultimately all it was.

So, perhaps the mental recovery process wasn’t too difficult especially with an Irish Cup final ahead of them.

There wasn’t a trace of self-pity emanating from the Coleraine camp this week with Kearney insisting that the outcome of today’s final will determine whether their season has been a success or failure.

Lyndon Kane (broken foot) is a huge loss at right back while the Bannsiders will miss Josh Carson’s unpredictability in the final third and free-taking expertise.

Likewise, the Reds have a few defensive issues of their own.

The reliable Gary Breen-Jamie Harney central defensive axis has been broken up of late due to a knee injury to Breen.

Although the former Portadown player played a half against Linfield last weekend, it is still a risk to start him after a five-week absence.

In terms of team selection, Reds boss Barry Gray has a bit more to mull over than Kearney.

The cup final pain of 2013 still lingers for a small band of the Cliftonville players while a number of Reds teams seemed haunted rather than motivated in trying to equal the ‘Spirit of ‘79’.

The Reds haven’t beaten Coleraine in four attempts this season - but Gray isn’t short of match-winners in Joe Gormley and Rory Donnelly.

This cup final is anybody’s game, the classic 50-50.

Coleraine look the better oiled of the two finalists, while Cliftonville possess the mercurial quality to win a one-off game.

There just appears to be less mistakes in the Coleraine ranks – and that could be the difference at sunny Windsor Park today.

PATHS TO THE FINAL

Cliftonville

Round Five: Cliftonville 4-3 Warrenpoint Town (aet)

Round Six: Cliftonville 4-1 Crusaders

Quarter-finals: Linfield 0-1 Cliftonville

Semi-finals: Cliftonville 4-1 Loughgall

Coleraine

Round Five: Coleraine 7-0 Lisburn Distillery

Round Six: Coleraine 4-0 Institute

Quarter-finals: Coleraine 1-0 Glentoran

Semi-finals: Coleraine 3-1 Larne

League meetings…

Tuesday August 15: Coleraine 2-0 Cliftonville

Coleraine goals: Josh Carson (50) Jamie McGonigle (63)

Saturday October 22: Cliftonville 1-2 Coleraine

Cliftonville goal: Rory Donnelly (21)

Coleraine goals: David Ogilby (10), Joe McCready (48)

Saturday December 30: Cliftonville 0-0 Coleraine

Saturday April 7: Coleraine 2-1 Cliftonville

Coleraine goals: Stephen Dooley (71) Jamie McGonigle (88 pen)

Cliftonville goal: Jay Donnelly (36)

Last 10 previous winners

2016/17 - Linfield

2015/16 - Glenavon

2014/15 - Glentoran

2013/14 - Glenavon

2012/13 - Glentoran

2011/12 - Linfield

2010/11 - Linfield

2009/10 - Linfield

2008/09 - Crusaders

2007/08 - Linfield